It's electric! Google's best doodle yet as search engine commemorates Les Paul... with a guitar YOU can play

As if the internet didn't already provide enough distractions at work.

Today Google has released its best doodle yet - a guitar that you can actually strum by moving your cursor over its strings.

The search engine's home page logo has been converted into a fully working virtual guitar.

It won't win any prizes for aesthetics - they did somehow still have to spell out the word 'Google' after all.

Google triumph: The search engine's home page on June 9, 2011 - a fully working virtual guitar

But they have certainly achieved the prize for best procrastination tool this Thursday - so long as you have a set of headphones at hand.

The virtual guitar was created using a combination of HTML5, JavaScript, and the Flash plugin.

It was set up to mark what would have been the 96th birthday of guitar legend Les Paul, who died in 2009.

Legend: Les Paul in New York in 2007

Paul was a jazz/blues musician who invented the solid body electric guitar - the instrument that kicked off the era of rock and roll.

He also invented multi-track recording, a technological trick that revolutionised work in the studio.

It meant that musicians could record their songs track by track, mixing everything together later, instead of playing everything at once.

Paul's impact was so great that the Smithsonian Institution awarded him with a Bicentennial Medal before his death.

Today's doodle also allows you to record songs - if you're in the U.S. at least. You can even share your song with others by sending them the link.

There's also a hidden keyboard control that you can click. Then, instead of using your mouse to strum, you can play tunes with your keyboard.

That means you can create a melody with the letters of your name, or the name of your company (don't be alarmed if it sounds a bit like the Jaws theme).

The search engine's first doodle was created back in 1998 to celebrate the Burning Man festival.

At first, doodles celebrated holidays or special events - Halloween, Earth Day and so on.

Then, as their potential as a marketing tool grew, doodles began marking birthdays of scientists and artists.

Only recently have doodles become interactive. Many users have called the Les Paul doodle the best - although admittedly, as MailOnline readers have pointed out, the interactive Pac-Man doodle has become part of Google legend.